own learned publications, has fully established the character of being a competent judge of these subjects; and which, though not written for publication, Mr. Knight has kindly permitted us to insert, as a proof of his sentiments on the work-far preferable to any thing farther we could have said.

"To William Scott, Esq. of the Inner Temple.

"DEAR SIR,

"Whitehall, March 9.

"I BEG you will express my gratitude to your friend the author for the very valuable Dissertation which you have been so kind as to send me from him, and which I have perused with equal delight and satisfaction. Not having had the advantage of a regular education, I have not had the disadvantage of being instructed by any doctor dedocendus; and have, therefore, always pronounced the Greek and Latin languages in the manner which he recommends; though I did not ever expect to find my pronunciation so ably defended, or imagine that so much learning and ingenuity, employed upon so dry a subject, could be enlivened by so mach wit and humour.

"To pronounce exactly as the Greeks and Romans did is certainly impossible, because it is impossible that we should know exactly how they did pronounce; but, to sacrifice quantity, which we do understand, to accent, which we do not, has always appeared to me extremely absurd; and still more so, to regulate the accents of a dead language by those of our own. The height and the continuity of tone are certainly, as Foster has observed, wholly distinct, and may therefore be separated in pronunciation; but, nevertheless, as we almost always unite them in speaking our own language, we shall find it difficult to separate them in speaking or reciting any other, without acquiring a foreign twang, which will always have an aukward, and generally a burlesque, effect.

"We learn from the ancient Greek scholiasts, that not only the vulgar, but even the most profound critics of the schools of Athens, Alexandria, and Tarsus, differed concerning the right accentuation of several words, wherefore we may safely answer those, who now so confidently explain and recommend the use of accents, merely by reminding them that, inter virtutes grammatici sit, aliquid nescire.

1797, March.

"I am, &c. &c.

"R. P. KNIGHT."

LIX. Character of the Rev. WILLIAM BENWELL, of Trinity
College, Oxford.

MR. URBAN,

Jan. 6, 1797.

I MUCH wonder that no one of the numerous friends of the late lamented Mr. Benwell has paid a greater tribute of respect to his memory than what appeared in your Obituary. A character so truly amiable and excellent deserves to be displayed in the brightest colours; nor is it with any idea of doing justice to his merits that I trouble you with this account of him; but in the hope of drawing from some more able pen a fuller and more perfect delineation of his genius and virtues.

Mr. Benwell was brought up under the care of the Rev. Dr. Valpy, at Reading, who still conducts his school with so much credit to himself, and such advantage to his numerous scholars. He entered at Trinity college, Oxford, in the beginning of the year 1783, and soon distinguished himself as an excellent classical scholar, particularly for his Latin compositions both in prose and verse. These attainments led him to aspire to the public honours of the University, and his efforts were crowned with success; first, by gaining the Under-graduate's prize in 1785 for Latin hexameters on "The Siege and Pillage of Rome by Alaric ;" and then the. Bachelor's, in the year 1787, by a very elegant essay on "The Superiority of the Moderns over the Antients in Art and Science." Henceforward he was looked up to as one of the ornaments of the University; and, besides his literary accomplishments, he was equally esteemed and admired by his friends for an amiable sweetness and modesty of disposition, for maturity of judgment, and an exquisite purity of general taste.

Soon after taking his degree of A. B. he was ordained deacon by the present Bishop of Hereford,* then Bishop of Oxford; and (there being yet no fellowship vacant for him on the foundation of his college,) he retired to the curacy of Sunning, in Berkshire. Here the same unassuming modesty of manners, and purity of character, gained him the love and esteem of his parish, and the general respect of the neighbourhood. But it is in his behaviour to

the poor that his admirable character most shone forth. His kind and patient attention to their wants and infirmities, his assiduity in instructing and catechizing the children, together with his zeal in visiting the sick, and administering to them the comforts of religion, shewed his own strong sense of clerical duty, and marked him as a most conscientious and exemplary clergyman. His own sincere piety too gave weight to his instructions, which failed not to turn many to righteousness, and left an impression, which, I dare say, is not yet effaced from the minds of his poor friends (as he used to call them) in that extensive parish.

In the year 1790 Mr. B. succeeded to a fellowship of Trinity college; and on his return to Oxford, he engaged in the tuition of pupils, and undertook the care of a new edition of the Memorabilia of Xenophon. In this work, from the multiplicity of his other engagements, his progress was much slower than the lovers of Greek literature could have wished; and, we believe, only about two-thirds of it were finished at the time of his death. But, from the specimens which the writer of this memoir has seen, there is a display of accuracy of verbal criticism and text-emendation, which rank him among the foremost of editors of the Classics. He also took upon himself the trouble of giving an entirely new Latin translation, which, for elegance of Latinity, is not inferior to any that ever accompanied a Greek author, that of the Cyropædia of Hutchinson not excepted.

In the spring of the last year Mr. B. was instituted to the living of Chilton, in Suffolk, on the presentation of Mr. Wyndham, the Secretary at War. This enabled him to accomplish his union with a most sensible and amiable woman, to whom he had been long attached with the purest love, and who was deserving of a man of such virtue and merit. Their marriage took place in June; and in September a fever, which he caught in his humane attention to a poor sick family at Milton, deprived the world of his valuable life, and left his widow inconsolable for so sudden a deprivation of all her hopes. The life of man is often called a breath-a vapour! And when we consider the circumstances of this happy union, there seems such a dash of all human hopes and prospects, as fully confirms the idea of the frail and perishable tenure of our moral state. But "the virtuous soonest die;" and this good man is called away to receive those rewards which are laid up for spirits so pure and heavenly.

To review his general character:-As a scholar, Mr.

Benwell was of the first rank, distinguished as a classic and philologist, and of no less refined taste and skill in antiquarian research. He has indeed completed no work that may carry his name down to posterity; yet there are many scattered compositions known to his friends (some of which, Mr. Urban, adorn your pages,) marked with evident traits of genius and ability. His style, both in his Latin and English compositions, was chaste, easy, and correct, formed in the school of Cicero and Addison, or perhaps more nearly resembling the elegant simplicity of his favourite Xenophon. His critical taste was eminently just and pure; nor was it confined to literary productions, but equally extended to painting, prints, and every work of elegant art. His discourses for the pulpit were written and delivered in a strain of piety and sincerity, well adapted to move the affections of his poorer hearers, to whom he used more particularly to address himself; and both in manner and matter his preaching strongly called to mind the pious and amiable zeal of the good Bishop Wilson. With a mind thus highly improved and well-directed, had it pleased Divine Providence to have granted him a longer term of years, he would no doubt have produced some work that would have enriched the stores of learning, or promoted the cause of virtue and religion.

In stature Mr. Benwell was about the middle size, slender, and genteel in person, of mild and gentle deportment and manners, which, with the soft expression of his eyes and countenance, contributed to render him universally beloved.

His loss to his friends is irreparable, and by none of them is he more sincerely lamented than by the writer of this imperfect account. He knew Mr. Benwell soon after his entrance at the University, and always esteemed his friendship and acquaintance as one of the happiest circumstances of his life. This tribute of affection, therefore, he has wished to pay to the memory of him, as a man of the most pure and virtuous character, of refined genius and taste, and of the strictest disposition and manners.

1797, Jan.

S. E. K.

LX. Biographical Anecdotes of WILLIAM CURTIS, the Botanist.

MR. URBAN,

Aug. 4.

A FEW years ago the Botanical World received a griev ous loss in the death of the honest and amiable Mr. Aiton, of Kew. It was not, however, wholly irreparable; our eyes were all turned to his excellent son, in whose skill, diligence, and activity, his Majesty has found a faithful and affectionate servant.

But now we have to lament another great luminary in the botanical science, who has been taken from us (so was God's will!) at an early age. I allude to the death of Mr. Wm. Curtis, author of the Flora Londinensis, Botanical Magazine, &c. whose name appeared in your incomparable Obituary of the last month. Where shall we find his equal in botanical taste and accuracy! His works will place him high in the esteem of all those who know how to appreciate such talents, so truly capable of giving that correct and easy discrimination which subjects of Natural History so peculiarly demand.

The history which I am about to give of him is taken from some memoirs drawn up by himself. To these I am enabled to add several particulars from the long and intimate knowledge which I had of his disposition and abilities.

Mr. Curtis was the eldest son of Mr. John Curtis, of Alton, in Hampshire, a tanner. He was born in the year 1746. When about eight years of age, he was placed under the care of Mr. Vindin, who at that time kept a very respectable school about a mile from that town. Mr. Curtis remained at this seminary under Mr. Vindin, and his successor, Mr. Docker, till about the age of fourteen, when, to his great regret (for he had now begun to relish and to know the value of classical acquisitions,) he was taken away, and bound apprentice to his grandfather, an apothecary at Alton.

It was during this period that Mr. Curtis was led to his first studies in botany. The house contiguous to that in which Mr. Curtis lived was the Crown inn. The ostler, Mr. John Lagg, a sober steady man, was a person of uncom monly strong sense, and, though an unlettered man, with the assistance of Gerard's and Parkinson's unwieldy volumes, had gained so complete a knowledge of plants, that not one could be brought to him which, he could not name without